Hang time love

Written by John schuhmann saying the raptors are better than their record. Good press from the yanks.

1. Toronto (3-13)
This is an obvious one, given the Raptors’ failures in close games. They’re 1-8 in games determined by eight points or less. They have the second-worst record in the league, but have only the seventh-worst point differential, even after getting blown out in Houston and Memphis this week.
The Raps have also played the second-toughest schedule in the league. They’ve played a league-high six back-to-backs already and have faced only one opponent on the second night of a back-to-back.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Raps are a playoff team, but they’re certainly a better team than their record suggests. And they can be expected to turn their season around somewhat, perhaps in the second half of December and early January, when eight of their games in a nine-game stretch are against the Rockets, Cavs, Pistons, Magic, Hornets, Blazers and Kings.

Its like he read my mind. People need to recognize that schedule plays a massive role in what your record is.
Not worried yet. No way we go 3-79 on the season.

The schedule is a big factor, but the worry is that by the time the schedule eases up, confidence will be low, and chemistry will be evaporated (especially with a young team who has never experienced prolonged win streaks).

You have to acknowledge the legitimate concern over being this far behind in the standings so early. With a few more consecutive losses, the season is all but derailed (if it isn't so already).

I mentioned this in another post, but starting Friday, the Raptors need to finish the season 37-29 (i.e. playing .561 ball) to end up with 40 wins....which may/may not be enough for the 8th seed. 16 games into the season, that's already a massive hill to climb.

The schedule is a big factor, but the worry is that by the time the schedule eases up, confidence will be low, and chemistry will be evaporated (especially with a young team who has never experienced prolonged win streaks).

One win is all it takes to start a run. Young teams tend to have short-memories as well.
It's ultimately on Casey to keep these guys giving full effort and playing as a team. Which I'm not worried about.

Nilanka wrote:

You have to acknowledge the legitimate concern over being this far behind in the standings so early. With a few more consecutive losses, the season is all but derailed (if it isn't so already).

I mentioned this in another post, but starting Friday, the Raptors need to finish the season 37-29 (i.e. playing .561 ball) to end up with 40 wins....which may/may not be enough for the 8th seed. 16 games into the season, that's already a massive hill to climb.

Disappointment comes with unmanaged expectations.

If you expected them to make the playoffs, then absolutely, your expectations are at risk of not being met.
If you expected to see a young, competitive team involve themselves in close, competitve games, then I'm pretty sure you're expectations are right on par.

If we continue to keep games as competitive as we have (minus the few blowouts) then the wins will come. Again, I'm not worried. Yet.

Just curious....if you're not expecting the Raptors to battle for a playoff spot, what is there to worry about?

Pretty sure that was his point. I am not worried about the playoffs either, but the things I would find worrying would be Lowry not becoming the leader we hoped he would, JV stagnating and not learning any of the nuances that will help him grow in to a solid player for the future. Ross becoming a jump shot only type of player who stands on the preimeter and never puts pressure on his man by taking to the hole.

I have seem a few of these things develop before our eyes this year already, JV has played tough and has come as advertised. He certainly has a bunch of things to work on, but you can see him getting better most games. He has a better jump shot than I thought and some decent post moves so I am good with that one so far. Ross has been hit and miss, but the last few games he has been much more agressive on offense with some awesome dunks and finger rolls etc. Lowry is still a concern. I am one of the few who prefers the pass first point guard style of play, so he has me a little worried about his ability to create shots for others and has not show he can do so for himself yet either.

Well it was Magloire at the end of last season that said playoffs and then put it in everyones mind put a lot of pressure on us all coming from a guy who isn't even on the team for long term... Realistic expectations was to continue building and at least be knocking on playoff contentions door, with playoff berth being above and beyond our goal.

Can we really blame colangelo? if you were a young NBA prospect would you take your talents to a young struggling franchise that hasn't proven itself yet? I wouldn't.

I would agree if they didn't also lose close games to sub-par teams. Detroit, Charlotte, and Indiana in the opener beat them in very close games.

1-8 in games decided by 8-points or less is terrible, if we won even half of those this would not seem so bad. Even the game we won in Indiana was pathetic, we only scored 7 points in the 4th quarter.

I am just not buying into these excuses, I am sorry. This team need character.

I think that's the whole point. The point is that...

- as bad as this team has been playing
- as much as we lack character/leadership
- as much as we lack legitimate star talent
- as hard as it is to start a season with one of the worst schedules in the league
- as hard as it is to start a season with 3 new starters (including 1 rookie)
- as hard as it is to win games with 2/5 of your starters injured
- as hard as it is to win games with your team defense significantly regressing
- as hard as it is to win games with your best offensive player regressing with his offensive efficiency and defensive effort
- as hard as it is to win games with such pathetic free throw shooting
- as hard as it is to win games with such lopsided reffing

... this team could still quite easily be 8-8, sitting in 8th place in the Eastern Conference!

The Raptors are 3-13, but have lost:
- 2 games in overtime (tied after 4 quarters)
- 2 games by 1 point (one of which the NBA admitted was lost due to poor reffing)
- 1 game by 2 points
--> 5 losses by a combined 4 points (as of the end of the 4th quarter)

Yes we have a dreadful record, but there's still reason to maintain optimism and hold out hope for the remainder of the season and beyond!

Just curious....if you're not expecting the Raptors to battle for a playoff spot, what is there to worry about?

I will start to worry when I get the feeling the players no longer care, or no longer believe in what they are playing for.
Up to this point, my only real cause for concern was Bargnani and Fields both being borderline NBDL.
Not enough for me to believe the season is lost.

CalgaryRapsFan wrote:

Yes we have a dreadful record, but there's still reason to maintain optimism and hold out hope for the remainder of the season and beyond!

These two teams are pretty close to equal in terms of the metrics used to evaluate long-term success, and yet one has eeked out 6 of it's wins by 4 points or less and the other has lost it's close games. Does that mean we should assume that Charlotte will be fighting for a playoff spot all season while Toronto will continue to flounder? Does it mean that the Raptors have a significantly worse roster than Charlotte's? Of course not, at some point things should even out, and I'd take Toronto's roster going forward if I was offered the chance to swap.

I don't know what the difference has been for Charlotte in those close games (since I've watched literally none of them other than the Toronto game), but I'd guess it's simply that they have two guys in Gordon and Walker that are built for getting shots off late, plus Sessions on top of that. In contrast, The Raptors' closers are DeRozan, Bargnani and Lowry. I'm sure you can see why this difference is significant.

I'm optimistic about the team turning things around this season, and that we will be that much better next season with JV more experienced, DD & ED continually improving, Lowry and hopefully adding some talent via a trade or free agency.

But I'm also cautious that optimism is why we've held onto assets like Bosh and ended up with nothing for him and continue to hold onto Bargnanni thinking he will one day reach his potential.